Grudge Match

     This week we bring Japanuary to a close with an overview of theatrical released Ju-On films.

     Seven people all wonder into the wrong house for various reasons and regret it pretty quickly. Kayako and Toshio unleash their brand of revenge in Ju-On: The Grudge (2002).

     Seeing the potential there, Hollywood was quick to get their own but wisely decided to bring the original creator along with a bigger budget and a fistful of CW actors in The Grudge (2004)

     Some times you lose sight of why a series works and make really bad follow ups in a new continuity... Like what happened with Leatherface seventy times. Ju-On: The Beginning of the End (2014).

     Finally who doesn't love a good tag team match? Sadako vs Kayako (2016) breathes new life into two of the century's most dominant nightmares.
Join us, won't you?

Episode 190- Grudge Match

Necro Firearm Escape

      This week the last hand painted film, the most recent war blockbuster, and our third Asami film!

      A pair of assassins drive through the dessert. To cover the hours one tells the tale of a doctor who becomes a revenge focused mastermind when his wife is murdered. The doctor buys a woman, an addict sex worker, and molds her into the ultimate killing machine. An amazing physical lead performance drives this exploitation action fest. As the blood flies and the nipples expose, can anything stop Gun Woman?

     British and French forces are pushed to the northern beaches and surrounded in the town of Dunkirk. Looking at the evacuation from land, sea, and air, Christopher Nolan wrangles a large ensemble cast between epic war story of Dunkirk.

     Prestigious Ginei Studios has gone bankrupt and shut it's doors for the last time. In celebration of it's glorious past television interviewer Genya and his cameraman Kyoji have a life spanning interview with the studio's biggest star, Chiyoko Fujiwara, who disappeared from the spotlight thirty years earlier. A surreal work from one of Japan's undisputed masters of animation, Millennium Actress.

     All that and next week we bring Japanuary to a close with a look at the seminal J-horror series JU-ON. Join us, won't you?

Episode 189- Necro Firearm Escape

Criminal Activities

     This week multiple masterminds make mischievous misfortune for moral masses and mobbed moneylenders.

     Now that his son is getting to the point of fleeing the nest, widower Shigeharu looks to connect with a woman in hopes of wifing a nice younger woman. Instead of turning to the normal methods of bars and matchmakers and online profiles, he and his producer friend decide to hold a fake casting call. Because nothing says "I am looking for love" like a light Weinstein session. His eye is caught by Asami and he worms his way in.... unfortunately he doesn't notice the corpses strewn about. Takashi Miike's first international breakthrough film, which lead the early 2000s J-horror boom and inspired the Hostel style US body horror trend, based on a novel by Ryu Murakami... Audition.

     Underground black and white Japanese cyberpunk from cult filmmaker Shozin Fukui shows how much you can do with nothing but determination and stuff stolen from your neighbor's garage band. A pair of rogue scientists perform psychic drug experiments on people grabbed off the street. Subjecting them to brutal tortures that end in horrible deaths and failure... until their final project yields even more terrifying results. Sex, drugs, Speedos, and a whole lot of high concept insanity are crammed in Rubber's Lover.
     One of the best action film directors to ever command a set, one of the most unlikely romantic heroes of the 1970s, a bank robbery gone wrong, a hitman on their trail, and only one way out. Don Siegel delivers another tough and cynical film with a stellar cast, anchored by the great Walter Matthau, in the mostly overlooked gem that is Charley Varrick.
     All that and Kevin moves his command center to a new underground bunker, Dave knows that two actors in that movie were in popular ST roles but he wanted to go easy on them, and Tyler loves like only loving lovers love. Join us, won't you?

Episode 188- Criminal Activities 

Playground of Torturous Cartoon Sausage

      This week a classic, a brutal experiment, and a beloved by some art film.

     A bureaucrat ground down by three decades in the same monotonous position with a son who only appears to care about his pension and inheritance learns that his days are drawing to a close sooner than he expects. Setting out to find how to love life and find meaning in his own, he stumbles through the city. A master's achingly humanist meditation on what one can do when they find their passion and leave their mark, no matter how small or large, is the real way to live- Ikiru.
     Waking up in a claustrophobic nightmare, a man must find his way out before he bleeds to death. Can he make it out of his Haze?
     Tom Green- Canadian, comedian, TV host, film star, former lover of Gertie, Disney Princess. What happens when Fox gives him several million and lets him run wild? There was only one possible outcome... Freddy Got Fingered.
All that and we try very hard to no get political. Join us, won't you?

Episode 187- Playground of Tortuous Cartoon Sausage

Tank VS Sub

     This week we roll into 2021 and Japanuary with an action classic, a pinku classic, and a listener selected overlooked war movie from that long distant mythical time called the 1980s.

     What do you get when you unleash an escaped prisoner, a young woman, four yakuza, and a whole lot of zombies in the middle of a forest that doubles as a gateway to the otherside of this mortal coil? A lot of bloody fun in Versus.
     When she was a high school freshman Naoko was abducted and imprisoned by her neighbor. She went through a month of Hell. Now she lives a double life. By day she is one of Japan's top experts in fertility, by night she is a popular submissive at a high scale S&M club. Naoko has spent her life chasing a feeling she once had in captivity but what is it exactly? Is it the taste of a Sweet Whip (Amai Muchi)?
     A Russian tank is separated from the column. Meanwhile, Taj returns home to find it destroyed and his brother killed. With the tank lost and a group of revenge hungry mujahideen on their trail how long will the group of soldiers keep it together or will their interpersonal conflicts kill them all? Can Taj rise to fill his brother's shoes and lead this group and his village? Or is The Beast truly unstoppable?
     All that and Dave fights Skype, Kevin yearns for the old days of hot buttered crumpets, and Tyler wistfully dreams of Mitsu Dan. Join us, won't you?

Episode 186- Tank VS Sub

The Chickens, The Cats, Some T-Birds, and a Rat

     This week we bring 2020 to a close and embrace the warmth of the holidays with that genre that says togetherness like no other... Musicals. Four screeching pitchy nightmare visions of the hell that is 2021 awaiting us all... or not.

     Memories. Of a musical loved by children. A fun and high enery show that familes can love. Turned to creepy. With Dutch ang...les... Every cg face can be a terrifying vision. They don't stay on and Tom Hooper is crying. We saw Cats! It's so easy to flee screaming... 
Okay. Maybe that doesn't work to the tune of Memory.
     The first collaboration between the House of Mouse and the Studio Apartment of Mayhem. A script that blends a classic of English holiday literature with the merry mayhem only Henson can provide, with a strong script and songs that will stay with you for decades... Does it get much better than The Muppet Christmas Carol? 
     Dolly Parton. What else can anyone ask for? Okay, fine. There's also a little Burt Reynolds and a tiny bit of Jim Nabors and a fleeting glimpse of Charles Durning. All together in a Lone Star shaped romp of sex and football and fake news and politics and minor acts of gross use of force and intimidation. It's not some third rate flop, it's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
     The Next Generation rises to take the reigns from the legends that came before. Supported by a gaggle of legends from the Golden Era. Does it sink or swim? Is there any gas left in Grease 2?

     All that and Anna drinks enough to make the others tolerable company, Kevin plans a heist the likes of which has only come from a Micklewhite, Dave goes full Santa, and Tyler puts lumps of coal in his underoos for maximum pleasure. Join us, won't you?

Episode 185- The Chickens, The Cats, Some T-Birds, and a Rat

Cowabunga-ed in Carbonite

     In the penultimate episode of 2020 we go to two happy places.

     Long long ago in a galaxy far far away, a group of people where chilling, literally, on an ice planet when the evil Empire found them and kicked off a whole bunch of problems for the second to last Jedi, his secret sister, her smuggler lover, his hairy life partner, and their sentient android slaves. Yeah, that's bad but it's The Empire Strikes Back. Hard to find new ways to describe it.
     Long long ago in a city on the East Coast, four teenage ninjas had just taken out the vicious leader of a criminal gang driving the worst petty crime wave in history. Unfortunately, their rest and celebration is cut short as their enemies return thirsty of mutated revenge shenanigans. Also Vanilla Ice is there... what will be revealed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze?
     All that and Kevin had higher highs and lower lows, Dave does Santa right, and Tyler loves like a loving lover who loves. Join us, won't you?

Episode 184- Cowabunga-ed in Carbonite